Printing-press counting and signaling mechanism



Dec. 29, 1925 1,567,179

E. CHESHIRE PRINTING PRESS COUNTING AND SIGNALING MECHANISM Filed Feb.16 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet l Dec. 29, 1925- E. CHESHIRE PRINTING PRESSCOUNTING AND SIGNALING MECHANISM 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 16

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Dec. 29 1925- E. CHESHIRE PRINTING PRESS COUNTING AND SIGNALINGMECHANISM 1920 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Feb. 16

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Patented Dec. 29, 1925.

EDWARD-CHESHIRE, OF IILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOB, BY IESNE ASSIGN-IENTS,

TO MIEHLE PRINTING- PBESS 8o MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO,

ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OI ILLINOIS.

PRINTING-PRESS COUNTING AND SIGNALING MECHANISM.

Application filed February 16, 1920. Serial No. 358,971.

To all whom it may concern.

Be it known that I, EDWARD CHESHIRE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Milwaukee, in'the county of Milwaukee and 6 State ofWisconsin, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inPrinting- Press Counting and Signaling Mechanisms, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to counting and signaling mechanism for printingpresses. In my application Serial No. 329,976, filed October 11, 1919, Ihave disclosed and claimed certain improvements in printing presses. Inthis present application, I am describing and claiming more particularlythe counting and signaling mechanism to be used in connection with suchprinting presses.

One object of this invention is to count 2 accurately and automaticallythe number of sheets of material passed through the press and to giveautomatically a signal when for any reason a sheet of material has notbeen fed toward the impression means.

Another object is to provide simple and novel counting and signalingmechanism for printing presses adapted to meet the various requirementsfor successful commercial operation.

These and other objects are accomplished by means'of the arrangementdisclosed on the accompanying sheets of drawings, in which- 7 Figure lis a front elevation of a printing press embodying my invention, partsthereof being omitted for the sake of clearness;

Figure 2 is a side elevation of the same printing press;

Figure 3 is a sectional view of the same press taken through theprinting cylinder and a stationary part 0 the press, and showing more inparticular, on a larger scale, the operating mechanism for the countingmechanism and slgnaling mechanism; and

Figure 4 is a detail sectional view taken in the plane of line 4-4 ofFigure 3.

The variousvnovel features of my invention will be a parent from thefollowing description and drawings, and will be articularly pointed outinthe appended claims.

The particular printing press in connection with which I am disclosingmy present invention is described in detail in my above mentionedapplication. Accordingly, only such parts wlnch are necessary to anunder standing of my present invention will be described herein,

The frame 10 of the printing press carries a bed plate, it beingunderstood that as the impression cylinder 11 moves rectilinearly in onedirection, the rack bar 12 with the cylinder bed moves rectilinearly inthe opposite direction. During the upward rectilinear movement of thecylinder 11, it also rotates for giving the sheet of material carriedthereby an impression, preparatory to removal of such sheet of materialfrom the cylinder at the upper limit of movement of the latter. Durlngthe downward movement of the cylinder 11, it does not rotate. Whether ornot the cylinder 11 rotates depends upon whether or not it is locked tothe actuating gear 13 which meshes with the rack 12.

Referring particularly to Figure 3, it will be noted that one end wallof the cylinder has secured thereto a fulcrum 14, to which is pivotallyconnected a lever 15, to one end of which is pivotally connected amovable lock member 16, which may be reciprocated through an opening 17in one end of the cylinder, said movable lock member being movable intoand out of engagement with a co-operating lock member 18 secured to theweb 19 of the cylinder driving gear 13.

As fully described in said above mentioned application, the movable lockmember 16 is operatively connected to a bell crank lever 20, whichcarries at the end of one of its arms a dog 21 yieldably held inadjusted position with respect to said bell crank lever. The upper endof the dog 21 is engaged and actuated by a block 22 at the upper end ofa bar 23 for unlocking the cylinder, or, in other words, moving the lockmember 16 out of engagement with the lock member 18, this unlockingaction taking place at the upper limit of movement of the cylinderpreparatory to a downward movement of the cylinder during which time itdoes not rotate. At the lower limit of movement, the c linder is locked,or, in other words, the dbg 21 is given a quick and short upwardmovement tozmove the looking member '16 into engagement with the lockingmember 18, preparatory to an up en aged by the b ock 22 for unlockingthe cy inder and for moving the lower end of the dog 21 to the left forforcing an air controlled plunger 24 and its stem 25 inwardly withrespect to the cylinder 26 thereof, it being understood that this actiontakes place at the upper limit of movement of. the 1mpresion cylinder.

As described in said above mentioned application, the cylinder framecarries a transfer table 27, which receives sheets of material from thestock pile when the transfer table is in its upper position with theimpression cylinder. This transfer table wilt perforations extendingtherethrough, which are connected to a source of vacuum. soon as a sheetof material is placed upon the transfer table 27, the perforations arecovered, causing the plunger 24 and its stem v25 to move outwardly or tothe right, as

shown in Figure 3, causing the lower end of the dog 21 to move to theright. On the other hand, if for any reason a sheet of ma: terial is notfed to the transfer table in its upper position, the perforations in thetransfer table will not be covered, and accordingly the plunger 24 andits stem 25 will not be moved to the ri ht, as shown in Figure 3, andthe lower en of the dog will not be moved to the right. In other words,the lower end of the dog has two distinct positions: In one position,when it is swung to the right, a sheet of material has been fed to thetransfer table and covers the perforations thereof. In the otherposition, when it is swung to the left and remains there even after thetransfer table and cylinder start in their downward movement, no sheetof.

material has been fed to the transfer table and the perforations thereofare not covered. When a sheet of material is fed to the transfer table,said sheet of material moves downwardly with the transfer table and clinder, the material being properly aligne and fed to the cylinder atthe lower limit of movement of the latter.

The sheet of material thus fed to the impression cylinder is registeredon the countmg mechanism, the counting mechanism taking the form of anydesirable register or meter 28, which may be operated through a rod 29,which near its lower end is provided with a collar 30, the lower end ofthe rod beingsupported and guided by a bracket 31 secured to an arm 32of the printing press frame, it being remembered that when a sheet ofmaterial is on the transfer table, the lower end of the dog 21 is in itsright hand position. It is apparent that when the cylinder carrying thedog 21 is moved downwardly and approaches its lower limit of movement,the lower end of the dog engages the collar 30, thereby giving the rod29 a slight downward movement, causing an operation of the register ormeter 28. It is equally apparent that if no sheet of material is fed'tothe transfer table, the lower end of the do 21 will occupy its left handposition, an in its downward movement with the cylinder near the lowerlimit of movement of the latter will engage a collar 33 carried near thelower end of a rod 34, giving the latter ashort downward movement forsounding any suitable signal, such as a bell 35, wh1ch will indicate theoperating condition of the press; or, in other words, that material isnot. being fed to the transfer table and impression cylinder.

The rod 34 also is guided and supported by the bracket 31. Indottedlines in Figure 3, the bell rod 34 is shown in its signaling position.The collars 30 and 33 are adjust able upon their rods to meet varyingconditions.

I have thus shown and described in connection with my printing press,counting means, signal means, and pneumatically and automaticallycontrolled cylinder lock mechanism for operating one or the other ofsaid counting or signal means in accordance with operating conditions ofthe ress, the counting mechanism being operated for registering eachsheet of material passin passing through the press, and the signamechanism for calling the operators attention to the fact that materialis not bein fed to the transfer table or impression cy inder. v

It will be understood that I do not limit my invention to the detailsherein shown and described, for it is apparent that in the broadestaspect of the invention, the counting and'signal means may be operatedby other suitable mechanism of the printing press.

I claim:

1. In a printing press, the combination of counti means, signal means,and automatica y operated means for selectively operating said countingand signal means.

2. In a printing press, the combination of counting means, signal means,and cylinder lock mechanism for operating said counting and signalmeans.

3. In a printingpress, the combination of.

counting means, signal means, and a movably mounted printing member foroperating said counting means and signal means in accordance withoperating conditions of the press.

4. In a printing press, the combination of countin means, signal means,a reciprocatory cylinder, and means carried there y for operating eitherthe counting means or sigother said member in one ditions of the ress.

'5. In a printmg press, the combination of counting means, s1 al means,a transfer table, and means w ereby either the count- I mg means orsignal'means will be operated,

depending upon whether or not a sheet of material is placed upon saidtransfer table.

6. In a printing press, the combination of counting means, s1 a1 means,a stock receiving member, an means for selectively operating saidcounting means or signal means, dependin upon whether or not stock isplaced on sai stock receiving member.

In a printing press, the combination of counting means, signal means, avertically movable cylinder, a member carried thereby havin twopositions with respect thereto, whereby either the counting means orsignal means will be o rated in accordance with operating conditions ofthe press.

,8. In a printing press, the combination of counting means, slgnalmeans, a printing cylinder, lock means therefor, including a memberwhich occupies one of two positions, said member in one position beingarranged to operate the counting means and in the osition to operate thesignal means.

9. a printing press, the combination of counting means, signal means, aprinting cylinder, lock means therefor, including a member whichoccupies one of two positions, position being arranged to operate thecounting means'and in the other position to operate the signal means, 7

and means for controlling the position of said member.

10. 'In a printing press, the combination of counting means, signalmeans, a printing cylinder,'lock means therefor, including a memberwhich occupies one of two positions, said member in one position beingarranged to operate the counting means and in the other position tooperate the signal means, and means for automatically controllin theposition of said member as a result of diflerent operative movements ofthe press mechanism.

11. In a printin press, the combination of counting'means iaving anoperating rod, signal means having an operating rod, 2. movably mountedcylinder, and a member carried thereby for actuating one or the other ofsaid rods for operating the counting means or signal means, depending uon whether or not a sheet of material is being fed to the press.

12. In a printing press, the combination of counting means having anoperating member, signal means having an operating member, areciprocatory im ression cylinder, and a member carrie thereb foractuating the operating member 0 said counting means or signal means,dependin upon w ether or not material is fed towar said impressioncylinder.

Signed at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this 27th day ofJanuary, 1920.

EDWARD CHESHIRE.

